Blood and Chocolate (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the film. For other uses of the term, see Blood and Chocolate.
Blood & Chocolate | |
---|---|
Directed by | Katja von Garnier |
Produced by | Wolfgang Esenwein Hawk Koch Gary Lucchesi Tom Rosenberg Richard S. Wright |
Written by | Ehren Kruger Christopher Landon (screenplay) Annette Curtis Klause (book) |
Starring | Agnes Bruckner Hugh Dancy Olivier Martinez Bryan dick |
Music by | Reinhold Heil Johnny Klimek |
Cinematography | Brendan Galvin |
Editing by | David Gamble Emma E. Hickox |
Distributed by | MGM |
Release date(s) | January 26, 2007 |
Country | USA |
Language | English |
Official website | |
All Movie Guide profile | |
IMDb profile |
Blood & Chocolate is a film released on January 26, 2007, produced by Lakeshore Entertainment and distributed by MGM. It is based on the young adult novel Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause, which was adapted to a screenplay by Ehren Kruger. It was directed by Katja von Garnier.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Full Plot
Vivian's family was killed in America when she was a young girl, after which she moved to Romania to live with her aunt Astrid. Astrid is a former mate of the pack's leader, Gabriel, and together they have a son named Rafe. According to pack law, the leader chooses a new mate every seven years. The choosing is a few months away and Gabriel wants Vivian as his mate, despite her reluctance. This is because of a prophecy which states that a female loup-garou will lead all loup-garou into the age of hope. Gabriel thinks this wolf will be Vivian, and for this reason he wants to marry her.
While sitting in a church one night (having broken into it) she meets a human man, Aiden, who is an artist (who broke into the church to examine the stained glass art in it) researching the legend of the loup-garou. Aiden is instantly smitten and pursues her for several days before she finally agrees to start seeing him. They meet in secret and fall in love. They are soon discovered by Vivian's cousin Rafe and his four friends, who grew up with Vivian; throughout the movie Rafe and his friends are referred to as the Five. After the Five tell Gabriel about the relationship, he orders Rafe to do whatever is necessary to get Aiden out of the city- even if it means killing Aiden.
Rafe sends Aiden a note, pretending it is from Vivian and asking him to meet her in a chapel outside the city. After Rafe threatens him, Aiden throws him into the table where he cuts himself. Rafe's spilling of blood forces his eyes to turn yellow and reveal his true nature. He attempts to kill Aiden. Silver is fatal to the loup-garou and can poison them when they are exposed to it. Aiden uses his silver necklace- shaped like a pentagram- to kill Rafe.
Gabriel and Astrid are devastated at the death of their son, and Aiden is caught by the other loup-garoux. Every month at full moon, the pack leads a hunt in the forests. The human prey is chosen because they are a danger to the pack or because they've offended one of its members. If the human manages to cross the river in the forest, they're allowed to live, but no one has ever managed to reach the river. Aiden is chosen to be that month's prey and he runs for his life. Fortunately, he'd stolen a silver knife from a restaurant earlier, and when two wolves corner him he is able to kill them. He reaches the river and crosses, but Gabriel is furious and breaks his own law, he follows Aiden and attacks. Vivian jumps in and she and Gabriel fight in their wolf forms; she wins and throws him into the river. Aiden attacks her, not recognizing her in her wolf skin, and stabs her with the knife. When she reveals who she is, he is stricken with guilt and agrees to help her.
They flee to a building where films were once processed, because it is riddled with silver dust the loup-garou won't find them. Astrid, however, is smart enough to realize where Vivian went and corners them with a gun. Vivian pleads for Aiden's life, reminding Astrid of how important it is to be with someone you love, and Astrid (who is in love with Gabriel even though he is no longer her mate) lets them go. They get an antidote for Vivian by threatening a pharmacist, but the man manages to alert the pack to their presence and Vivian is captured.
In the wolves' territory, Gabriel orders one of the Five- now the Four, because Rafe is dead- to kill Vivian, but Aiden jumps in with a gun full of silver bullets and a massive fight starts. During the shooting, several kegs of alcohol empty onto the floor and Aiden sets the building on fire. Vivian aims a gun at Gabriel, but he blackmails her by telling her she is low enough to try to kill one of her own kind. Aiden pleads with Vivian to shoot Gabriel, to which she replies, "I can't." When Gabriel changes into his wolf form and goes to attack Aiden, Vivian shoots him. Vivian feels guilty for having killed Gabriel, as tears roll down her cheeks and she strokes Gabriel's fur. She helps the rest of the Five escape from the fire (even though they betrayed her, it is apparent she cares for- or pities- them) and she and Aiden run away together.
The last scene is of them sitting in Gabriel's car and driving out of the city, on their way to Paris. As they drive, several people in the streets nod their heads and smile at the car, as they believe it to be the pack leader Gabriel. These people are loup-garoux and they do not know Gabriel is dead. This was the only way for Vivian and Aiden to escape the city undetected.
[edit] Differences Between Book and Film
- The general message of the book is that werewolves and humans cannot have stable romantic relationships. The movie states the exact opposite, as Vivian and Aiden are still together at the end.
- In the book, all characters are American and the story takes place in America. In the film it takes place in Romania and some characters have British, French, or Romanian accents. Vivian and Aiden are the only characters with American accents.
- In the novel, none of the wolves' eyes turn yellow when they smell blood.
- Vivian's mother is alive and her father is killed in the novel; in the film both her parents are killed. In the book Vivian is an only child, but in the film it is shown that she had siblings, who were killed along with her parents.
- In the film Vivian blames herself for her family's death; she explains to Aiden that her pawprints were found by the enemy, leading them to her family. In the book, only her father dies and it was the Five's fault.
- Aiden, Vivian, and the Five are high school age in the book; in the film Vivian is nineteen and Aiden is in his early twenties. The Five are presumably in their late teens to early twenties as well.
- In the book, Astrid and Gabriel were never mates. Rafe is neither their son nor Vivian's cousin. Also, Astrid is not Vivian's aunt and is actually the main villain in the book.
- Rafe- and the rest of the Five- is attracted to Vivian in the novel; he and Vivian had dated at some point before the story takes place. This is not mentioned in the film.
- Rafe and Astrid are lovers in the novel; in the film they are mother and son.
- In the film there is no Ordeal between the male loup-garoux, and no fight between the female loup-garoux. Gabriel is the leader from the start, instead of participating in the Ordeal like he did in the book.
- Aiden is alone in Romania in the film; in the book he has friends and family around him besides Vivian.
- In the beginning of the novel, a character named Axel- a friend of the Five and Vivian's former romantic interest- was mentioned. Axel does not appear in the film.
- In the novel, it was Axel, and not Rafe, who killed a girl because she rejected him.
- Vivian has an Uncle Rudy- her mother's brother- in the novel. In the film, she has no uncle.
- Vivian is an artist in the novel; in the film Aiden is the artist.
- Vivian works at a chocolate and sweets shop in the film; in the book she doesn't.
- In the the novel, when the pack leader takes a mate, she is his mate for life unless another female loup-garou challenges and defeats her. In the film, the leader takes a mate every seven years.
- Gabriel is generally a good character in the book and does not permit the pack to kill humans for pleasure; in the film he is the villain and encourages the killing of humans.
- Vivian is presumably a gray loup-garou in the book. However, in the film a white wolf was chosen to depict Vivian in her wolf-form; this was possibly done so that the audience would be able to tell Vivian apart from the other wolves, all of whom are gray or black.
- In the book, there is no prophecy.
- The book mentions an elderly female loup-garou, Aunt Persia, who cures every ailment the loup-garoux may have including Vivian's silver poisoning. In the film, she is not mentioned and an old pharmacist gives Vivian an antidote.
- In the book, Aiden gives Vivian a silver pentagram, which he later melts down into the bullets he shot Vivian and Rafe with. In the film, Aiden owns a pentagram necklace but does not give it to Vivian. He uses it to kill Rafe.
- In the book, Vivian's parents had been the leaders of the pack before Gabriel, but the film never mentions this.
- When Vivian reveals her secret to Aiden in the book, he is terrified and wants nothing to do with her. He even shoots her with a silver bullet, which makes her unable to fully change to wolf or human- leaving her stuck in between. In the film, Aiden still loves Vivian after he learns her secret and wants to help her control her ability.
- In the novel, the pack members just shape-shift into their alternative forms. In the film, the transformation is much more spiritual, depicting Vivian and the others as humans who almost seem to ascend into a higher (or at least different) state of spiritual being, that of the loup-garoux.
- Gabriel is twenty-four in the novel; in the film he is in his late thirties to early forties.
- At the end of the book Gabriel tells Vivian that he had once loved a human girl and how he could relate to Vivian's feelings for Aiden. He doesn't do this is in the film. Also, in the book Gabriel loves Vivian, but in the film he wants to marry her to suit his own purpose.
- In the book Aiden and Vivian break up at the end, and Vivian falls in love with Gabriel and agrees to become his mate. In the film, however, Gabriel dies- ironically, by Vivian's hand- and Vivian and Aiden stay together.
[edit] Trivia
- Trailer was screened before audiences nationwide during the release of Rocky Balboa. The dark nature of the trailer, combined with the enunciation and presentation of the title, caught moviegoers by surprise, leading to unexpected and unintended laughter in theaters.
- The movie was a box office bomb, taking in only $2.1 million in the United States on its opening weekend and dropping out of the top 20 grossing movies in only its second week of release.
- Since 1997, five directors were in talks to film Blood and Chocolate, namely Larry Williams and his wife Leslie Libman, Po-Chih Leong, Sanji Senaka and Rupert Wainwright, before Katja von Garnier finally signed in January 2005 to direct the film. The book was originally adapted into a script by Christopher Landon whose father Michael Landon had a leading role in the film I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957). The filming took place in Bucharest, Romania, among others because director von Garnier wanted to work with "real" wolves which really live in Romania's woods, instead of using computer-generated wolf creatures.[1]
- Author Annette Curtis Klause was not kept up to date by the producers of the film. She had to find the information about the filming on the Web.[2]
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- Blood and Chocolate at the Internet Movie Database
- Official site by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Blood and Chocolate at katja-von-garnier.com
- Report about the filming at kodak.com
- Blood and Chocolate official LiveJournal community
- Blood and Chocolate at Rotten Tomatoes